The Relation of Religious Identity and National Heritage among Young Muslims in Germany

Religious identity was weakened in the 1960s due to decisive changes in the religious history of the Western World as well as the push of secularization. It is no longer a shared core of the structure of identity in western-European societies. Based on their secularised self-perception, host societies expect migrants to integrate by giving up their religious bonds or to only express them in their private lives. Even though migrants often keep up their religious bonds and practices (they frequently use religious networks to settle down in the host country, but they also maintain contact to their home country in case the migration fails), the circumstances in the process of migration and demands in a new culture inevitably reshape religious beliefs and practices.

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The Relation of Religious Identity and National Heritage among Young Muslims in Germany